Never have so few words transported me so far, so quickly. How can the unimaginable resonate so fully? I wonder if my haste to respond to this tiny poem is just my way to avoid the ache, to shift the connection from experience to insufficient words, as all words will be in the wake of this…

Brian, what you write reminds me of the graves I’ve seen on some Native American reservations that are 10 or 15 or so feet from the back doors of two of the trailer homes. Most of the few I saw were there because a teenager had killed taken his life. Plastic flowers and art and perhaps the young person’s bike are placed around the grave within a fenced area. I would think it would have to be a 24/7 reminder of the hole in the heart of the family who lives in the trailer. Some family members would go out and sit with the deceased.

John,
Gosh, it has been awhile since something has moved me, as this piece did. It is when I read poems like this that capture such beauty (in the sense of how they are written)and such sadness remind me why I feel in love with poetry in the first place.

This is a wonderful piece; many writers aspire to write something that has the ability to touch the hearts of others, as this has done for me.

I hope that it is ok that I have shared this as a featured post on a free creative blog that I host; as I believe many of our readers will feel much the same as I do about this poem.